The Pet Thread

[Ickdeep]

Originally Posted by No one

There should be cheaper similar (dedicated) scratching posts (or even better for the purpose - your cats' viewpoint!) available. Just get them one. Distract them from what they shouldn't touch by offering a better option (for both you and them). Or, maybe, just cover this part of the furniture item with something protective they can scratch as they like. That's provided their reason is claws care, not they just hate this piece and try to destroy it deliberately: "Cats. They know something we just don't.".

It's a part of owning cats really. They scratch what they want. We have a scratch Post's all over the house and car trees and they use them but they'll still scratch the furniture

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Ickdeep

It's a part of owning cats really. They scratch what they want. We have a scratch Post's all over the house and car trees and they use them but they'll still scratch the furniture

yeah I know. we also have scratching post throughout the house. 1 in the basement, 1 on the main floor and 1 upstairs. still waiting for the SoftPaws to be delivered and i'll report back if they work or not.

[No one]

Originally Posted by Ickdeep

It's a part of owning cats really. They scratch what they want. We have a scratch Post's all over the house and car trees and they use them but they'll still scratch the furniture

This is why it should make sense to find out their preferences. I'd put a scratch post right next to the furniture item they scratch (just for a test, temporarily, even if you don't want it there) and look what they'll do (scratch both or make a choice).

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

I've been fortunate with Hamilton; he doesn't claw anything other than my hand lightly when he snuggles up next to me at night.

This should mean the cat has something sufficient and more attractive then the furniture to condition his claws against (for he does have to do that somehow). In theory.

[No one]

Originally Posted by No one

This is why it should make sense to find out their preferences. I'd put a scratch post right next to the furniture item they scratch (just for a test, temporarily, even if you don't want it there) and look what they'll do (scratch both or make a choice).

Having read the article myself I see the test for attractiveness I suggested isn't a perfect idea as it might blur the difference between allowed and not allowed items in cat's eyes. The article says it all.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

I always tell my dog that I love him $1,000 worth. He costs me anything over that, he dies. He seems to love me anyways.

Secretly though, I couldn't put him down for $1K. But if its a medical thing where his quality of life is going to be worse off, then I probably could.

I was thinking about this very thing the last couple days. Friday we went to vet ER and spent 200 since The Hound was having issue with hind legs. This morning she couldn't walk nor wag her tail. I was sure anything near 1G and we would be on to plan B - putting her down
6K later she had spinal surgery and we are looking at 6 weeks of cage confinement once she comes home in 2-5 days

Disk degeneration in T10-12, pinching the spinal cord. Disc scraped but some potential bruising of cord I hope to sleep a LITTLE tonight

My Hungarian Pointer passed away this year. I'm missing her so much

[chowser51]

Getting a road trip in before the week of rain starts.

[UncleWede]

So, when is enough too much?

We elected surgery with an 80% chance of restored control of the hind legs. I went to see my Princess Leah last night, took her a dirty shirt to remind her of me. She had tears in her eyes, but I don't think dogs even cry. I sure did after I left.

I want to be positive, but I'm deathly afraid that we simply are making her last few days of life a living hell, and we never should have let them cut her open, just gently send her into the long good night.

[No one]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

So, when is enough too much?

We elected surgery with an 80% chance of restored control of the hind legs. I went to see my Princess Leah last night, took her a dirty shirt to remind her of me. She had tears in her eyes, but I don't think dogs even cry. I sure did after I left.

I want to be positive, but I'm deathly afraid that we simply are making her last few days of life a living hell, and we never should have let them cut her open, just gently send her into the long good night.

A pet is a living creature, not a thing you simply dispose of when broken. How can you know about your dog's wishes? Or feelings: it should be glad to see you. Don't misinterpret her feelings fatally wrong, at least! They do have effective (after surgery) pain relief drugs for humans (I know that from experience) so why not for animals? You'd better discuss your concerns with the veterinarian you trust to take care of your dog (or just another one as a precaution), perhaps.

You did not give your dog a life, why would you take it away (and even if you had that wouldn't mean you'd still own it)? You should be dead sure death is the only solution to proceed with that shit. If you love your dog don't deprive it of a chance to survive. If you don't, why would you bother to make decisions for it? Decide for yourself as a responsible dog owner or something, but don't do it from emotional standpoint, driven by guesses (or fears). Fighting for love and life is a worthy endeavour. Giving up without trying is bullshit.

[JasonCSU]

Originally Posted by chowser51

Getting a road trip in before the week of rain starts.

Looks like a German Sheppard and a Siberian Husky? Those are my two favorite breeds.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by No one

A pet is a living creature, not a thing you simply dispose of when broken. How can you know about your dog's wishes? Or feelings: it should be glad to see you. Don't misinterpret her feelings fatally wrong, at least! They do have effective (after surgery) pain relief drugs for humans (I know that from experience) so why not for animals? You'd better discuss your concerns with the veterinarian you trust to take care of your dog (or just another one as a precaution), perhaps.

You did not give your dog a life, why would you take it away (and even if you had that wouldn't mean you'd still own it)? You should be dead sure death is the only solution to proceed with that shit. If you love your dog don't deprive it of a chance to survive. If you don't, why would you bother to make decisions for it? Decide for yourself as a responsible dog owner or something, but don't do it from emotional standpoint, driven by guesses (or fears). Fighting for love and life is a worthy endeavour. Giving up without trying is bullshit.

Thank you!

Just last week, I'm amazed at how she still gets the zoomies at almost 8 years old. Then she's having some trouble walking. I wait a day and she's not eating, not drinking, hiding under the bed (NEVER done that before) and won't even look at me. So I take her in to ER. They find a painful spot, give her pain meds and prednisone and say watch her. Next day she has no motor control of hind quarters, so I take her back and they recommend immediate surgery, since she still has a response to pain on the pads. I agonized because I was afraid the wife would nix anything over $1000, but we dropped a deposit of 6k and they did the surgery.

QUALITY of life is at least as important as quantity. I'm giving her a chance, I'm just confused when it's time to let go and not put her thru more misery to postpone my own loss.

So far, I lack the ability to communicate to her that I"m doing this for her to get better and stay with us longer, nor to tell her she can't come home with us until she can pee.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by No one

A pet is a living creature, not a thing you simply dispose of when broken. How can you know about your dog's wishes? Or feelings: it should be glad to see you. Don't misinterpret her feelings fatally wrong, at least! They do have effective (after surgery) pain relief drugs for humans (I know that from experience) so why not for animals? You'd better discuss your concerns with the veterinarian you trust to take care of your dog (or just another one as a precaution), perhaps.

You did not give your dog a life, why would you take it away (and even if you had that wouldn't mean you'd still own it)? You should be dead sure death is the only solution to proceed with that shit. If you love your dog don't deprive it of a chance to survive. If you don't, why would you bother to make decisions for it? Decide for yourself as a responsible dog owner or something, but don't do it from emotional standpoint, driven by guesses (or fears). Fighting for love and life is a worthy endeavour. Giving up without trying is bullshit.

I agree with pretty much everything said here, but I do think some external influences can affect those decisions. One being age of the animal, the other being quality of life afterwards.

Now if you are only delaying the inevitable, I don't think you should make a decision based on being selfish.

This coming from an animal lover, and a parent who lost a child that could have had more treatment and procedures, but would have only extended his life by a few months.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

I agree with pretty much everything said here, but I do think some external influences can affect those decisions. One being age of the animal, the other being quality of life afterwards.

Now if you are only delaying the inevitable, I don't think you should make a decision based on being selfish.

This coming from an animal lover, and a parent who lost a child that could have had more treatment and procedures, but would have only extended his life by a few months.

Frick dude - I don't know you or this child, but as a father that brought a tear to my eye anyhow. I'm no father of the year, and I lose it on my kids from time to time, but I cannot imagine losing one of them.

I'm truly sorry for what you had to go through, and probably still are.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

So, when is enough too much?

We elected surgery with an 80% chance of restored control of the hind legs. I went to see my Princess Leah last night, took her a dirty shirt to remind her of me. She had tears in her eyes, but I don't think dogs even cry. I sure did after I left.

I want to be positive, but I'm deathly afraid that we simply are making her last few days of life a living hell, and we never should have let them cut her open, just gently send her into the long good night.

I don't know what to tell you - you went with your gut, which is all you could do. Keep in mind we all feel like crap post-op, so why would she feel any different? Give it a few days, make sure they are giving pain medication and not trying to cheap out by not doing so and telling you they did.

If after a week or two, there is no improvement and she looks rough, you might need to take her back to understand why. If her quality of life is forever changed to be a lot worse and she's in pain, then I think you know it is time to let go.

BBQ a nice meal for her. I plan on doing that for my dog when I eventually have to send him off. Actually, he's getting a preview of his meal this summer...I have a freezer burnt tomahawk steak weighing in at over 2 pounds that I'm going to toss on the grill for him and let him go to town. He's going to think he died and went to heaven.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

Thank you!

Just last week, I'm amazed at how she still gets the zoomies at almost 8 years old. Then she's having some trouble walking. I wait a day and she's not eating, not drinking, hiding under the bed (NEVER done that before) and won't even look at me. So I take her in to ER. They find a painful spot, give her pain meds and prednisone and say watch her. Next day she has no motor control of hind quarters, so I take her back and they recommend immediate surgery, since she still has a response to pain on the pads. I agonized because I was afraid the wife would nix anything over $1000, but we dropped a deposit of 6k and they did the surgery.

QUALITY of life is at least as important as quantity. I'm giving her a chance, I'm just confused when it's time to let go and not put her thru more misery to postpone my own loss.

So far, I lack the ability to communicate to her that I"m doing this for her to get better and stay with us longer, nor to tell her she can't come home with us until she can pee.

Your experience is exactly what we went through with Sophie, our 7 year old doxie, back in November of last year. Sounds like your dog had IVDD? We made the decision on the spot, without question, to do the surgery. By the time you add up all the bills including follow up visits and a couple PT visits it was $10k all in. She was clearly in more pain before the surgery than after so from that perspective, even though we put her under the knife it brought immediate pain relief. I'm sure she was pretty frightened those 3 days she had to stay in the hospital after the surgery, but she was heavily medicated and well looked after so I really dont think it was all that bad.

Was it worth it? 100% yes. She's totally recovered and doing great. She's her old self again. Here she is enjoying life over memorial day, contemplation a swim and smelling the flowers in a field with her big sister.

Keep us posted on how the recovery is coming along.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

Frick dude - I don't know you or this child, but as a father that brought a tear to my eye anyhow. I'm no father of the year, and I lose it on my kids from time to time, but I cannot imagine losing one of them.

I'm truly sorry for what you had to go through, and probably still are.

Thanks man. It was a rough...son was born with a terminal illness and brain damage. He passed right before his 4th birthday.

But we made sure that anything we did was benefiting him and not us. I look at it as he is in a better place than I am, and there is always something positive that comes from these situations.

It was what drove my daughter (his big sister) into the medical field, and he impacted everyone that met him.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Thanks man. It was a rough...son was born with a terminal illness and brain damage. He passed right before his 4th birthday.

But we made sure that anything we did was benefiting him and not us. I look at it as he is in a better place than I am, and there is always something positive that comes from these situations.

It was what drove my daughter (his big sister) into the medical field, and he impacted everyone that met him.

May I ask whether you knew he would have this condition before he was born?

[No one]

Originally Posted by UncleWede

QUALITY of life is at least as important as quantity.

Some lead what can appear a very low quality life. You should have some respect (otherwise someone might underestimate your life quality as well as find you've had enough quantity too).

Originally Posted by Rmtt

Now if you are only delaying the inevitable, I don't think you should make a decision based on being selfish.

Death is inevitable. Deciding for others looks rather selfish by itself.

[chowser51]

Sorry to hear guys. I just had one of my cats put down on Thursday. He wouldn't have survived an operation and he was an older cat. I'm still crying.

[UncleWede]

Originally Posted by No one

Some lead what can appear a very low quality life. You should have some respect (otherwise someone might underestimate your life quality as well as find you've had enough quantity too).

In all seriousness, I truly hope they do. So I'm not taking lightly the decision, nor am I making a decision I wouldn't want someone to make for me as well, based on my valuation of quality of life.

Yesterday I went for a run, I ran past this couple, struggling along the sidewalk, one in a wheelchair. I put myself in his position and would be pissed/envious of the guy running by.
When my mom couldn't walk any more, I would tell her I was running for her. The vision I had after she passed was of her, in a new place with her freaky new spirit/animal friend that would land on my mom's toe, then mom would flex her leg to bring it up to eye level, and to show it off to me. My interpretation of her heavenly reward was the release of pain, the ability to again move.

Please, if you have more insight/ideas to share, I welcome hearing them.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

May I ask whether you knew he would have this condition before he was born?

Sure. His situation was not expected. His mother suffered a complete placenta abruption.

By the time we made it to the hospital, he had been without oxygen for 60 minutes or longer. Had I not left work earlier than normal that day, it would have been longer. Aside from that, I still almost lost them both at the time.

But by then, the damage was done and irreversible.

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by No one

Some lead what can appear a very low quality life. You should have some respect (otherwise someone might underestimate your life quality as well as find you've had enough quantity too).



Death is inevitable. Deciding for others looks rather selfish by itself.

I'm aware of that. But I disagree with the last part in some cases. Deciding to prolong agony that will lead to only a slight bit more time for one's own benefit is as selfish as one can be in my eyes.

Now maybe I painted my prior comment with too wide of a brush stroke, but I meant it only for certain/special circumstances.